By Tricia Bishop and Tricia Bishop,tricia.bishop@baltsun.com | July 9, 2009

Eight people who worked at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown have filed a $40 million lawsuit against nine colleagues, alleging that their constitutional rights were violated through "sexually intrusive, humiliating" and unjustified strip-searches performed during a poorly executed drug sweep in 2008. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Washington County Circuit Court, says the plaintiffs were told to strip naked by fellow employees based on readings from drug scanning equipment, then directed to "squat and cough" to see if they were hiding controlled substances in their body cavities.

In a July 18 article, The Sun incorrectly reported the name of the state agency involved in a contract dispute with PHP Health Care Corp. The controversy involves the Department of Public ++ Safety and Correctional Services.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 8/07/98

By Tricia Bishop and Tricia Bishop,tricia.bishop@baltsun.com | April 13, 2009

When prosecutors revealed last month that a Baltimore man accused of using a contraband cell phone in jail to order the killing of a witness was again caught with an illegal phone behind bars, the judge's jaw dropped. He couldn't fathom how this keeps happening. It's "amazing," said U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett. But jail administrators will tell you it's not. Cell phones are smuggled into prisons in Maryland and around the world by the thousands through visitors, corrupt guards and, in Brazil, carrier pigeons.

The final edition of The Evening Sun last Thursday incorrectly identified Commissioner of Pretrial Detention and Services LaMont W. Flanagan, who oversees the Baltimore City Detention Center for the Maryland Department of Safety and Correctional Services.The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.

THE QUESTION Does Maryland have a sex offender registry? THE ANSWER Yes. The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services maintains the sex offender registry, which can be accessed online at: http: / / www.dpscs.state.md.us / onlineservs / sor / However, the department points out that the information is provided by registrants and therefore may not be accurate because they might have moved without notifying the department.

Republican state Sen. Martin G. Madden would like to hear from Jessup residents of Howard County who would be interested in serving on the Citizens Advisory Group to the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.The group comprises community representatives and a member of the public safety department.Members meet quarterly to discuss prison safety, the escape alarm system and other issues in communities situated in the vicinity of the area's correctional facilities.People interested in becoming involved with the Citizens Advisory Group can call Mr. Madden's office at 841-3572 or (301)

An inmate held on burglary and trespassing charges committed suicide yesterday at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center, correctional officials said.An officer at the center discovered Lavon C. Hinton, 45, of the 2200 block of Madison Ave. lying in his cell shortly after 9 a.m. with a sheet around his neck and the end tied to the top bunk. He was pronounced dead at 9: 33 a.m.The death is being investigated by state police and the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services' Division of Pretrial Detention.

County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann announced the appointment of three department chiefs Thursday.* Harford's new economic development director is BelAir resident Patricia A. Perluke, 46, the former director of marketing for Laventhol & Horwath. Perluke worked in the Philadelphia-basedaccounting firm's Baltimore office.* John O'Neill Jr., of Monkton, has been named director of the Department of Procurement. O'Neill,44, has served as the deputy secretary of the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

A correctional officer at the Baltimore City Detention Center has been arrested and charged with drug offenses after another officer saw marijuana being passed to a prisoner, according to a statement yesterday by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. According to court documents, Tonyette Yeargin, 19, of Northeast Baltimore was arrested Saturday on charges that include possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and delivery of illegal contraband. The statement says a correctional officer witnessed the incident and notified authorities.

Two inmates at the Jessup Correctional Institution were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday after being stabbed during an altercation, officials said. The inmates were suffering from serious injuries after the confrontation, which took place in a common area of one of the housing units, officials said. Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said one of the inmates was serving a life sentence for murder, and the other was serving a seven-year sentence for drug possession with intent to distribute.

Baltimore County police have arrested the man whom state corrections officers mistakenly released from jail a day after he was convicted of attempted murder, according to a spokesman for the state prison system. A Baltimore County police officer pulled over Calvin Boswell, 23, on Saturday and arrested him on charges of identity theft and on multiple traffic violations, according to court records. State Police brought Boswell back to the city detention center Tuesday, said Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

Dogs have long been used to find drugs in prisons, but the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has found a new use for them: sniffing out cell phones. Three canines were specially trained by Division of Correction K-9 Unit officers to detect cell phones as part of stepped-up efforts to stop contraband from getting into state prisons. In the past few years, Maryland inmates have increasingly been caught with cell phones, which in some cases have been used to arrange drug deals or even killings from behind bars.

In an effort to reduce the number of self-inflicted deaths in Maryland prisons, inmates placed on suicide watch are being monitored by unlikely aides: their fellow criminals. Officials with the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services say the practice, launched last year after a spike in suicides, enlists only the most trustworthy of inmates. But some critics say it's a shortcut for staff-strapped institutions, and a report last fall recommended that one area jail discontinue the practice after finding that prisoners can agitate their suicidal peers.

A correctional officer at the Baltimore City Detention Center has been arrested and charged with drug offenses after another officer saw marijuana being passed to a prisoner, according to a statement yesterday by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. According to court documents, Tonyette Yeargin, 19, of Northeast Baltimore was arrested Saturday on charges that include possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and delivery of illegal contraband. The statement says a correctional officer witnessed the incident and notified authorities.

While awaiting trial nearly three years ago, Raymond Smoot was beaten to death by correctional officers at Baltimore's Central Booking and Intake Facility. His death prompted an FBI investigation, City Council hearings and a bill to create a prison violence task force. But three years after cries of "never again," the task force has not yet convened, and recent reports suggest that Maryland's prisons inflict punishments beyond what any judge or jury might imagine. It's time to take meaningful steps to shine the light of public scrutiny on Maryland's jails and prisons.

Two inmates at the Jessup Correctional Institution were taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday after being stabbed during an altercation, officials said. The inmates were suffering from serious injuries after the confrontation, which took place in a common area of one of the housing units, officials said. Rick Binetti, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said one of the inmates was serving a life sentence for murder, and the other was serving a seven-year sentence for drug possession with intent to distribute.

Shaken by two violent escapes by prison inmates, a health care group that oversees a Laurel hospital announced that it will no longer admit inmates as patients in nonemergencies until security procedures are tightened. The announcement comes a day after state police said that Kelvin D. Poke, a Jessup Correctional Institution inmate who was taken to Laurel Regional Hospital after complaining of chest pain, was being guarded by just one corrections officer and was not wearing handcuffs -- two apparent violations of Division of Correction policy.

A prison inmate who escaped from a Laurel hospital was being supervised by only one correctional officer after his partner took a break and left him alone, police said yesterday. The state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is also investigating why Kelvin D. Poke was not wearing handcuffs when he overpowered two officers, took their guns and fled in a stolen vehicle Wednesday, setting off a manhunt that ended with his death seven hours later in a police shootout in a Prince George's County cemetery.